SKF sour gas compressor bearings last up to ten times longer

2013 November 07, 09:00
CET

Gothenburg, 7 November 2013: SKF today announced the inclusion of SKF sour gas compressor bearings into the SKF BeyondZero portfolio.* The bearings significantly extend maintenance intervals on compressors used to recover gas vapour. Proven to withstand regular exposure to sour gas and other harsh process gas compressor conditions, the SKF bearings can deliver up to ten times the service life of conventional bearings.

“SKF sour gas compressor bearings meet the urgent need to improve efficiency in this kind of compressor. The sour gas compressor bearings will dramatically cut maintenance costs for operators and make a great contribution to the environment by increasing compressor availability and preventing the escape of gas vapour,” says Lars Kahlman, Sr Application Specialist, SKF Global Segment Fluid.

Every year, the oil and gas industry “flares”, or ¬vents, an estimated 150 billion cubic meters of waste gases. This emits approximately 400 million tons of CO2, or about 1.2% of all annual global CO2 emissions. Much of this flared gas can now be captured by vapour recovery units or re-injected but because existing compressor bearings wear out and fail in as little as six months, too much gas is going unrecovered while maintenance is carried out. As an example, a compressor equipped with ten SKF bearings of this kind can save up to 670 tonnes of CO2e per year or up to 8000 tonnes during the lifetime of the compressor.

Maintenance is minimised by SKF sour gas compressor bearings, which feature several high performance materials, including a new generation of hard, ultraclean, high-nitrogen steel. These bearings offer a high degree of impact toughness, high fatigue resistance and superior corrosion resistance to sour gas (H2S), condensing water and acid gases (CO2) and other agents that cause conventional bearing raceways and rolling elements to flake.

SKF is a leading global supplier of bearings, seals, mechatronics, lubrication systems, and services which include technical support, maintenance and reliability services, engineering consulting and training. SKF is represented in more than 130 countries and has around 15,000 distributor locations worldwide. Annual sales in 2012 were SEK 64,575 million and the number of employees was 46,775. www.skf.com

® SKF is a registered trademark of the SKF Group.
™ BeyondZero is a trademark of the SKF Group.